''Republic: The Revolution'' is a computer game produced and published in 2003 by the short-lived British developer Elixir Studios (probably better known for developing ''VideoGame/EvilGenius''). The game takes place in the small nation of [[{{Ruritania}} Novistrana]], a fictional country that has just gained independence from the Soviet Union. You play as a political mastermind... whose family was assassinated by the KGB... and unfortunately, the man who was resposible for those murders is currently [[PresidentEvil "president for life"]] of Novistrana and beyond the reach of the legal system.

Thus, the player's job is to set up a party and gather enough support to launch a revolution. Of course, you're not the only one with an agenda - opposing him are several other groups, including other political parties, churches and even criminal organizations. In order to overcome the opposition and overthrow the president, you'll have to persuade others to work with you and support your campaign. Of course, they're trying the same...

The game's [[KarmaMeter political spectrum]] has three dimensions: Money, Force and Influence. Different ideologies draw (or repulse) different voting groups and can make recruiting certain people easier (or harder). The military is more likely to support a person with an interest in force, while the church can be hard to persuade to join the cause unless you share their belief in the power of influence. Corporate salesmen [[NotInThisForYourRevolution care for nothing but]] [[OnlyInItForTheMoney cold hard cash]].----!!This game provides examples of:

* AwesomeButImpractical: 3D mode. Most of game is played from 2D map.* BilingualBonus: Novistrana translates roughly to "New Country" from Russian.* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Player can beat other factions by engaging in the same actions as they do.* BlackAndGrayMorality: Karasov is PresidentEvil. You're out to topple him [[YouKilledMyFather because he made your parents disappear]], and arranging a regime change ''will'' require ruthless tactics up to and including corruption and murder. Even a pure Influence playthrough requires [[spoiler:setting up a charitable trust you can use to fund your political party]] and [[spoiler:arranging for the martyrdom of one of your allies so you can use his death to spark the revolution]].* CigarChomper: At the end of the Easy Life (Weath's Resolve-boosting action) cutscene, the main character (or whoever instigated the action) smugly lights up a cigar and smokes it as his underling (who has just received the keys to a brand new car) speeds away in the background.* ClassAndLevelSystem: The game features a unique class roster (called "professions") geared toward political activism:** Force professions are Police (primarily Force/Wealth-based actions aimed at other characters), Military (primarily Force-based for damaging others' Resolve and boosting own Support), Trade Union (a Force/Influence hybrid specialized in boosting and eroding Support), and Criminal (an exclusively Force-based action set aimed at Support boosting and eroding).** Influence professions are Political (an exclusively Influence-based well-balanced action set with a tendency for Support boosting), Religious (mostly Influence-based actions for boosting and eroding Support), and Academia[[note]]Think student protesters and ManifestoMakingMalcontent types[[/note]] (a balanced class with actions spread across every category and ideology).** Wealth professions are Business (exclusively Wealth-based actions mostly aimed at boosting support), Media (the most ideologically-balanced class with the most abilities for damaging others' support), and Celebrity (an Influence/Wealth hybrid with the most Support-boosting actions).** Lastly, there is the special Leader profession, available only to faction leaders (including the protagonist), which have access to Executive Powers (such as firing recruits), and partially overlapping, partially ideology-specific action roster strongly geared towards recruitment.* CharacterCustomization: Notably averted with the main character's looks (he always appears as the default dude in a leather jacket with a neatly trimmed beard), but his political views are customizable through the PlayerPersonalityQuiz at the start of the game.* CharacterPortrait: Each recruitable character in the game has a unique portrait which is used to represent them on the RiskStyleMap.* ChromosomeCasting: Every single politically active (and hence, recruitable) citizen of Novistrana appears to be male. There are plenty of women in the game, but none of them have any bearing on the gameplay.* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: Set shortly afterwards, but the point of the game is that the UsefulNotes/HoleInFlag phase hasn't properly arrived yet and you're supposed to finally rid the country of authoritarianism (at least in theory).* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Pretty much everything in the game is coded either red for Force-related areas, individuals, and actions, blue for Influence, or yellow for Wealth.* {{Determinator}}: Not only is the main character's Resolve stat permanently maxed-out, but he is seemingly the only person in the game who [[TheSleepless never needs to any sleep]] at all (sleep being an in-game mechanic that requires every other functionary in the game to spend one out of three daily actions resting).* CoupDeGraceCutscene: When you order someone killed. There is no way to cancel the action once it has begun.* TheDragon: General Alexashenko. [[spoiler:Can be bribed into DragonTheirFeet.]]* TheExile: The eponymous Influence action (first available in Berezina) is the "humane" alternative to [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting NPCs]] whom you want permanently removed from the game.* ExperiencePoints: Completing actions gives characters experience, which eventually lets them upgrade their own skills.* FalseFlagOperation: You can pull these off, it's just takes some extra effort.* FlavorText: Every single building, character, and even random objects like telephone booths and ''trash'' have their short flavor texts that can be read by clicking on them in the rooftop (3D) mode.* FogOfWar: Played with. You can see the 3D world wherever you want, but you won't know what your enemies are doing if you're not actively investigating. There are even actions to intentionally spread the fog of war to prevent other factions' from knowing what you are doing.* TheFundamentalist: Some of the church people (obviously).* HideYourChildren: Partially explained, however, by some of the information boxes in the 3D world. Children's play areas exist, but are said to be abandoned because few parents let their children out on the streets of Novistrana, while the fact that no schools can be seen is explained by the poor education system the regime is running * InUniverseGameClock: Time marches forward constantly. Days are divided into three parts and each action takes place in one part.* LaResistance: You start as this. Whether it lasts or not is up to you.* LetsYouAndHimFight: Late in Pugachev, [[spoiler:a plot-mandated schism splits your party, when two of your highest-level recruits go rogue to form a Wealth-aligned "New Peace Party", taking a full half of your raw support with them, giving them more than enough resources to rival your power base]]. While it is up for debate whether the protagonist or, indeed, any character in the game qualifies as "heroic", the event does give the protagonist's real enemies, the Red Mafiya, time to catch their breaths, while he has to either crush, or reconcile with these new rivals.* TheMafiya: The Red Mafiya (literally) is a rival faction in the second city, Pugachev.* MentorArchetype: If you pay attention to all the memos you receive after key plot events, you'll notice that all of them are from one Tresori Vilnov, an aging (Influence-aligned) dissident who has taken the protagonist under his wing and is subtly directing him in his quest for power. You can actually meet Tresori in person when you reach Berezina, although he cannot be recruited.* MultipleEndings: Though you take over the country whatever happens, your ideology determines the method used.* MultipleGameOpenings: Depending on your ideological profile, you start in different regions of the FirstTown and have to face different opponents early on. Later in the game, your ideology also determines some (but not all) of the story missions.* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Intentionally averted in-universe: Many actions, particularly of the Force ideology, generate "bad facts", which your rivals can uncover with investigative actions and use to boost their own actions for free, especially actions that erode your popular support.* OldSoldier: Force-oriented parties tend to hire these guys.* PatrioticFervor: Going between Force and Influence ends somewhat like this.* PersuasionMinigame: Recruiting new party functionaries, as well as many special events revolve around a negotiation minigame between your functionary and an NPC. First, you get a number of persuasiveness points (dependent on your functionary's Resolve score), which you have to assign to four differently-weighted arguments you will use later. In the first round of negotiation, you must play each of these arguments in any order, not knowing which arguments the other party has. In the second round, the process is repeated, except both parties now know each other's arguments. The party with more successful persuasions (i.e. matching the opponent's argument with a stronger argument) wins the entire negotiation. Also, at one point can try to convince a wealthy businessman to support you. If you mess up the negotiations, he won't give you anything. Win, he pays. Go over the top and he pays extra.* PlayerPersonalityQuiz: A new game opens with one right after the intro cinematic. Your answers mainly determine the political ideology of the player character's newly-founded party.* PlotLock: You can't mess with the President's power in the center of Berezina, at least not directly. You have to gain control of the proper institutions (the central bank, the Cathedral, or the SecretPolice HQ).* PlotMandatedFriendshipFailure: Late in Pugachev, [[spoiler:the right-hand man you've recruited from among the protagonist's three childhood friends in Ekaterine will turn on you, causing a literal party schism, after someone (read: Karasov) informs him that you have been in constant contact with ''someone'' in Berezina (read: worked for Karasov) the entire time. The reality is that you ''do'' have a contact in Berezina, but it's actually Tresori Vilnov, a notable political dissident and underground hero, who has taken the protagonist under his wing]].* RedemptionDemotion: Kind of. At the start of the game Robert Tarasov is the head of the Democracy Now Party and, as such, has access to all of the perks of the Leader profession. If you free and recruit him following his arrest, however, he will revert to the standard Academia profession instead.* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified / TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: Depending the player's choices, but leaning more towards the latter.* RiskStyleMap: Cities are divided into districts.* RPGElements: Each playable or recruitable character has five {{stats}} (Status, Charisma, Presence, Control, and Resolve, the last of which functions as a kind of SanityMeter and factors into every action's effectiveness) and a [[CharacterClass profession]] that determines which actions they have access to. They also gain XP for completing actions and can [[LevelUp promote]] up to 10 times, with each level giving them 10 points to improve any stat except Resolve, and 1 SkillPoint to unlock a new action type or "star" an already unlocked one (all regular actions can be upgraded up to three stars, i.e. have four power levels).* PresidentEvil: [[NonActionBigBad Vassily Karasov]] is a former secret service head who has not only seized dictatorial power in Novistrana, banned all opposition, and declared himself PresidentForLife, but also had [[YouKilledMyFather the protagonist's family disappeared]]!* ProtagonistPowerUpPrivileges: The protagonist gets two of his profession's action types (ideology-specific Resolve boost and Rally) for free, meaning that he has two more tech points to invest into his skills (other professions get at most one action for free at high levels). This is offset a little by the fact that ''every'' faction leader gets these free powers, no just the PlayerCharacter.* ThePurge: Very early in act 1, Karasov declares himself PresidentForLife, banning all political parties other than his own, and, in order to prove he means business, orders an Alpha Squad raid on the HQ of the then-largest opposition group, the Democracy Now Party, systematically killing or throwing into jail all of its members (although you can later arrange for the DNP leader Robert Tarasov to be freed to work for you instead).* {{Ruritania}}: Novistrana, whose name is a FakeRussian rendition of ''novaya strana'' (it literally means "new nation").* SanityMeter: The Resolve stat basically functions as this for recruitable [=NPCs=]: the higher the Resolve, the better a functionary performs his assigned tasks, failing them reduces Resolve, and it can be raised again by nice things happening to the agent (especially if the party leader recognizes his efforts). On the other hand, rival parties can specifically attack others' Resolve by putting them through hardship (such as being forcibly dispossessed by debt collectors), and a functionary whose Resolve drops to zero quits political work altogether! They don't die, however, and it is possible to recruit them (back), since recruitment also gives an initial boost to resolve (depending on how well you perform in the Persuasion minigame).* ScareCampaign: Support us, or the evil commies/capitalists/anarchists/fundamentalists/atheists/etc. are going to EAT YOUR BABIES!* SecretPolice: Borderline StateSec, since there's so much crossover between the SecretPolice and the army.* TheSyndicate: The Konstantino Cartel, despite its name.* SlidingScaleOfLibertarianismAndAuthoritarianism: And you get to decide where you want to sit!* SlidingScaleOfTurnRealism: In a really weird variation, this game is basically a TurnBasedStrategy where all gameplay takes place in real time. Each day is subdivided into three time periods (morning, afternoon, night), and during each period each agent can carry out exactly one action; resources are handed out once a day. Frustratingly, there is no way to significantly slow down the time (e.g. to have more time to review the situation and assign duties) or speed it up (to skip to the next turn); and some actions additionally require you to manually adjust the manner in which they are carried out ''as they happen'' (even though for many, it could have just as well been specified when ordering them), making carrying out more than two actions within the same turn excessively hectic.* SpeakingSimlish: Novistranians seem to be speaking a weird mix of Ukranian and Russian, and the "Cyrillic" letters are fictional.* StarterMon: Your first task in a new game is to recruit a right-hand man. Conveniently, the main character has exactly three old childhood friends in the FirstTown, each representing one of the three political pillars (Influence, Wealth, and Force), and one of them is easily recruitable even early on.* StockholmSyndrome: In Pugachev and beyond, it is quite possible to recruit new party members via literal brainwashing, intimidation, and blackmail (through the eponymous ideology-specific actions), and have them be as loyal to the party line as long-time veterans in no time.* StrawmanPolitical: Everyone, more or less. Everyone subscribes to one of three main focuses (Power, Influence, Wealth) and have their main skillset picked from that power. However, some characters do have secondary beliefs.* TacticalRockPaperScissors: Influence sways Wealth, Wealth buys Force, and Force beats Influence. In theory. In effect, the one who keeps gathering the most raw support beats everyone.* TechDemoGame: Sort of. There's a huge highly detailed city... that is pretty much useless in gameplay.* ThreeStatSystem: Each political party, party functionary, and electoral district has an ideological profile that combines Wealth, Force, and Influence in certain proportions. Each combination makes them more or less suited to carry out or to support certain political operations.* VelvetRevolution: [[spoiler:When Karasov finally goes down, he goes down quickly and without much fuss. Even more so in the Wealth ending, where you force him to resign by screwing with the economy.]]* VoiceOfTheResistance: Obviously, capturing a radio or TV station helps to persuade people to join your cause.* WeAREStrugglingTogether: There is no real way to ally with any other faction. Despite everyone opposing Karasov, everyone is more focused on defeating each others first.* WelcomeToCorneria: There is only a small set of opinions the people have to share. Hilariously enough, the text shown might match the voiceover, since there aren't enough spoken lines to go around.* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: How Novistrana's problems start.* WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons: In just three days, the entire city can go from religious fanatics to capitalist to military dictator to pro-democratic movement.* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: As soon as you expose the Mayor of Pugachev's ties to TheMafiya, they send a hitman to silence him.* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: Karasov and his regime will try to paint you as a terrorist, while naturally you potray yourself as a freedom fighter. Where you actually fall depends on your chosen path.----